Circular-knitting machine for looped fabrics.



J. H. SCOTT.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE FOR LOOPBD FABRICS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.28.1908.

QSLQSS Patented Jan.10, 1911.

FFEQ.

JOHN HENRY soon, or norrmeniiitjnnetann, AssIeNoa 'ro THE rnrrrsrtnosrnnx AND ELECTROLYTIC nrnacnme company, LIMITED, or nas'rcnnnr,Lennon,

EN GLAND.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN HENRY Soon, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, residing at the Standard Machine Works,

Dame Agnes street, Nottingham, in the .county of Nottingham, England,engineer,

have invented certain new and useful Im-' and sinkers, in the mannerhereinafter mentioned. The machine employed may be of the ordinary typeas regards its eneral construction, a convenient machine or this purposebeing that described in the specification of United States LettersPatent No. 67 0892 of Harry Clarke dated March 26,1901. For the purposeof the present invention such a machine is provided with specialsinkers, and with feeders for the surface or pile threads alternatingwith the feeders for the knitting threads. The special sinkers have oneor more throats to act on the surface or pile yarns in addition to theusual single throat of an ordinary sinker, such extra orpile throat (orthroats) being formed above the ordinary throat in an upwardlyprojecting portion of the sinker for instance. In addition to this theneedles used have butts of different widths, some butts being wide andthe others narrow, so that the latter remain down while the others arebeing raised or operated independently fora part of the time. Thepurpose of this is to permit of the surface or pile thread being passedin and out between the needles, so that in the finished work, it willcross the wales or connecting portions between the loops of the knitportion without however being itself knitted. The-result of such anarrangement is that the said surface threads form open or pile loops allacross the work, and are con- ,nected therewith at the ends ofthese'open 100 s simply by the wales of the knit loops, an they do notthemselves undergo any Specification of Letters Patent.-

Applieation filed February 28, 1908. Serial No. 418,314.

CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINE FOR LOOPED FABRICS.

Patented Jan. 10, 1931.

knitting operation properly speaking. There may be as many feederpositions for the said surface or ile thread as convenient and these maya ternate with a similar number of feeder positions for the knittingthreads, and as, say, 12 or 16 yarns may be fedin during eachrevolution, it follows that a very large output is obtained. Two or moresurface threads also may be fed in together at the same time, and thesinkers may. have a throat for each such thread, or two or'more of thelatter may be'acted on by a single throat.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into efiect,

cylinder. Fig. 2 is a corresponding diagram in plan showing the mannerin which the sinkers push the surface or pile yarn in loops around thealternate needles. Fig. 3 illustrates the special kind of sinkeremployed for carrying out the invention, the dotted lines indicatingapproximately the limits of the movementk of the extra or pile throatrelatively to the needles. Fig. 4 is an inside elevation of oneelementor section of the needle cam such asused for operating the needlesalternately. Fig. 5 is a section on the line m-m of Fig. 4. -Figs. 6 and7 show respectively one of the Widebutted and one of the narrow-buttedneedles. Fig. 8-shows on an enlarged scale a modified form of sinkerhaving two extra throats as hereinafter referred to.

a a represent the sinkers whose motion is indicated by the dot and dashlines Figs. 2 and 3 and which as shown in Fig. 3 are provided as usualwith a=g ;ap or recess a in the ordinary .way to engage the cam .piecethat operates them. In additionthey are also formed with an extra throata, or it may be with two or more such extra throats, (see Fig. 8)according as the pile or surfaceyarn is fed in singly (as in the exampleillustrated) or as two or more such yarns are fed in together. The extraor pile throat a" is formed as shown at the front of a tip or projectionabove the ordinary throat of which as usual takes the knitting yarn 0.

d and 6 represent the needles which work between the sinkers, the latterbeing ar ranged opposite the spaces between the needles, and vice versa.These needles form two sets, which although in other respects exactlyalike, differ as above indicated in the Width of their respective buttsd and 6 see Figs. 6 and 7 They are so arranged that those of one setalternate with .those of the other, that is to say for example, oneneedle of one set and one of the other set are placed side by'side allaround the machine. For the sake of clearness the wide butted needles dare illustrated inFig. 1 by a heavy line, and the narrow butted ones areshown by the light lines, while in Fig. 2, the needles (Z are shown inplan by black'dots and the needlesbetween them by the sinkers. Beyondthis I stage the two parts 7 and k of the cam merge together at the art2' which latter causes bothsets of needles to operate together for theusual knitting operation.

The yarns are supplied by feeders of the usual type carried by a ring Inthe drawings, the feeders for the pile threads are lettered 10 while ofthe ordinary knitting feeders, only one is shown as being sufficient forpurposes of-explanation. This feeder is lettered Z and forms togetherwith the left hand pile-feeder 7: a feeding set or section, the pilefeeder is on the right being associated with the next knitting feeder(not shown).

The foregoing being a general descri t-ion of the parts, reference wlllnow be ma e to the operation of the machine.

In the formation 'of the fabric accordingto the example illustrated,where the widebutted and the narrow-butted needles, viz. (Z and 6respectively, are arranged alternately, and the sinkers have a singleextra or upper throat, the parts operate as follows :On reaching thelefthand feeder 7:: for the pile or surface threads, the wide buttneedles begin to move independently of the needles 6, that is to say,they rise as shown in Fig. 1, and catching the pile thread I) drawitdown level with the upper or pile throats a of the sinkers. The latterin the meantime have been gradually drawn back between positions 1 and2, but they then move forward and at position 2. they open loops in thepile threa pushthe pile thread under the needle hooks and also press itbehind the said needles (see position 4)." The narrow butt needles 0then rise (see position 5) in front of the pressed back portions of thesurfaceor ile All the needles-then rise still furt er yarn. as theyreach the knitting yarn feeder so that the surface or pile thread isleft below the needle latches, and the sinkers then be.- gin to go back(see position 6) leaving the pile thread still passin in and out betweenthe needles. The nee les having engaged the knitting thread, then godown between the sinkers and form' the knit loops from position 6 toposition 7, while-the pile thread slips over theneedle latches. andhooks without being knitted at'all, butowing to its passing in front ofone needle and behind the next, .it is laid across the wales orconnecting portions in the finished work between the knit loops, and sois held in position. The operationsare then repeated at the next surfaceor pile feeder 7c, and so on.

The action may also be modified by so arranging, the needles that whilethe pile thread is pressed around a wide butt needle (as in position 4for instance), at one feeder, it will .at the next feeder be pressedaround a narrowbutt needle next to, the one it was previously pressedaround. With such a mode of operation, a one-and-one arrangement'of theloops is obtained, whereas with the arrangement illustrated the loopsform a straight rib as it were. case if the wide and the narrow buttneedles are arranged alternately, then the surface thread'is laid in andout between alternate needles, but the arrangement may be varied asdesired, so that there may be two or more wide ,butted needles and thena narrow butted one, and so on, thus giving longer the patternespecially with the modified arrangement. Moreover two or more narrowand two or more wide butted needles may be arranged to alternate ingroups as it were, as may be suitable for the kind of work required.

The fabric thus produced is suitable for various purposes for which suchfabric is usually employed, and can be produced. at a high rate in themanner indicated and can be made up into numerous patterns. Among otheruses the surface or open-loop threads can be treated to imitate blanketor pile In either or varying fabric. In fact the said surface or pilepor- I tion may be made as thick as required, whilethe knit portion mayon the other hand be made as light and net-like as possible so long asitsuflices to hold the surface portion or plle together.

What- I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is 1. In a knitting machine for producing pile fabrics, thecombination of two sets-of latch needles alternating with each other,two sets of yarn feeders actuating with each other, one being for thepile threadand the other for the knittingthread, radially operatedsinkers having double throats arranged outside the path of the needles,means for causing the needles of one set to engage and pull down thepile thread level with the top throats of the sinkers, means for drawingback the sinkers prior to this pulling down of the pile thread and forthrusting them forward when it is down to cause the sinkers to engageand hold it, and means for then causing both sets" of needles to riseand engage the knitting thread as in ordinary knitting machines.

2. In a knitting machine for producing pile fabrics, the combination ofradially acting sinkers having each two throats a series of 'wide-buttedand narrow-butted needles, arranged alternately with each other oppositethe intervals between the sinkers, a feeder for delivering the pilethread to one set of needles which pull it down opposite the top throatsof the sinkers but do not knit it, a second feeder at a higher levelthan the first for delivering the knit thread to both sets of needles sothat they knit it simultanously, means for first raising and loweringthe needles of one set and for then raising both sets to the higherfeeder, and means for operating the sinkers to cause them to engage thepile thread just prior to and during the actual knitting operation,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN HENRY SCOTT.

l-Vitnesses IRA Ronmson, G. E. CoLLINsoN.

